+a straight tequila night+

Tequila is made by distilling the fermented juice of agave plants in Mexico. It is descended from pulque, a favorite alchoholic drink of the Aztecs* and other Indian tribes. Agave (taken from the Greek, meaning "magnificent"), a prehistoric plant, is a spiky leafed member of the LILY family, not a cactus. By Mexican law, tequila is produced from blue agave only, one of Mexico's hundreds of varieties of agave. (mezcal,on the other hand, can be made from other species of agave. Tequila is a specific type of mezcal…"All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila" ) Tequila is produced in specifically designated geographic regions of Mexico, most notably Jalisco. The town of Tequila, in the state of Jalisco, was founded in 1530 by the Ticuila Indian tribe, who produced pulque from the state's native blue agave plant. It is thought that the word tequila means "lava hill" in the Ticuila tribe's native tongue, since the town is located near a dormant volcano. Sometime later, perhaps a few hundred years or so, folks in Mexico began to acknowledge that the finest agave was produced around the town of Tequila. This resulted in the name of the town being increasingly used as the name for the spirit. Around 1870 there were a dozen Tequila distilleries in Mexico. The first recorded exports of the liquor were to the USA in 1873, when three barrels of Jose Cuervo were sent to El Paso, Texas, and three barrels of Sauza were sent to New Mexico. During the Prohibition era in the USA between 1919 and 1933, huge quantities of tequila were smuggled into the USA from Mexico. It is somewhere in this era that the first margarita cocktail was made. There is no definitive answer as to how the drink came to be, but legends about its origin are many. In 1976, the rights to the name tequila were established as the intellectual property of the Mexican government. Laws surrounding production methods for tequila are quite strict.

*The most important alcoholic drink of early American Indians was pulque, from the fermented sap of an agave plant. Later, the Aztecs discovered pulque, but at first its consumption was confined to religious ceremonies. Social drinking was prohibited, and drunkenness was punishable by death. During these ceremonies, Aztec priests were allowed to drink pulque; it was thought that the state of intoxication enabled them to speak directly with the gods and to banish evil spirits. Pulque was also served to the victims of human sacrifices, before priests ripped out their hearts using knives made from shards of volcanic glass.

Tequila is graded according to the level of agave it contains and the length of aging. There are two levels, either 100% agave, or mixed (mixto). The highest quality tequila is made from fermenting and then distilling only agave juice mixed with water. Mixto is made by fermenting and then distilling a mix of agave and other sugars, usually cane sugar. By Mexican law, all 100% agave or aged tequila must be bottled in Mexico. If a tequila is 100% it will say so on the bottle. (Until the 1930's, all tequila was 100% blue agave. Tequila makers started mixing in cane sugar because of increasing demand, thus introducing the 51% agave tequilas which dominate today's market).

Beyond the two designations, there are four styles of tequila: Blanco (or silver), Gold, Reposado (rested), and Añejo (old).

Blanco is the original style. It is clear with little or no aging. It is usually bottled immediately after distillation. Blanco can be 100% agave ir mixto; it is used primarily for mixing. Gold tequila is unaged blanco tequila, that has been colored or flavored with additives. The gold color does not come from aging, it comes typically from added caramel. Reposado (rested) tequila is aged in wooden casks for a period of at least 2 months, and no more than 11. Añejo (old) tequila is aged in wooden barrels (usually bourbon barrels) for a legal minimum of one year. Best quality añejos are 18 months to 3 years for mixtos, and up to 4 years for 100% agaves.

It is generally agreed that tequilas aged over 4 or 5 years lose their sweet agave character, and begin to take on the characteristics of whisky.

The following are tequila taste ratings from the BeverageTasting Institute (BTI) of Chicago, from the book "Buying Guide to Spirits." They have been rating wine since 1981, and began rating spirits, including tequila, in 1994.